Francis Guy

Francis Guy was one of those influential larger-than-life characters typically found in pioneering communities.

Opportunistic, manipulative and often operating on the edge of the law, Francis Guy was our earliest colourful entrepreneur. Outwardly a model citizen, the crafty Francis saw Batemans Bay as his chance to live the capitalist dream. Never far from a potential big profit, Francis dabbled in silver mines, hotels, timber, shipping and real estate.

Francis was born in England in 1804, the illegitimate son of John Clarke. He adopted the surname of his mother, Deborah Guy. John Clarke would later be transported to Australia to serve seven years for petty theft.

At the age of 37, Francis and his family migrated to Australia under a passage-paid sponsorship. He initially worked as a boot repairer in George Street, Sydney, where he bided his time absorbing valuable information from many of his clients and assembling a list of useful business and government contacts.

Within 10 years, Francis had left Sydney and settled with his family in Nelligen. Here he was described as ‘a well-respected gentleman, holding many important positions in the community.’

He opened Nelligen’s first general store and successfully applied for a postmaster’s license.

Francis was quick to realise Sydney’s growing demand for hardwood timber and began a long career in the timber industry, establishing his own sawmills. He also anticipated the huge profits to be made by transporting and marketing the timber, so commenced building his own boats and established purchasing agents in Sydney. He now controlled the entire chain from felling the timber to final sale.

Nelligen in the 1870s was the region’s main port and commercial centre. Again, Francis was quick to satisfy an emerging need for accommodation and the public sale of alcohol by opening the town’s iconic hotel – The Steampacket.

It was illegal in those days for a post office to be associated with a public house, but somehow Francis found his own unique way around the problem. As Postmaster, Francis Guy had continuous access to valuable information that he was quickly able to turn to his profit. He would, for example, be able to anticipate arriving steamships and stagecoaches and then arrange to satisfy accommodation and supply needs.

Meanwhile, a recently-emancipated Irish convict, John Clarke (not Francis’ father) had settled on a small property outside Braidwood. John’s main occupation was cattle rustling and selling sly-grog. His sons Tom and John were heavily into bushranging and had even taken up with the legendary Ben Hall in an attempt to rob the Araluen gold stagecoach. After an abortive attempt to intercept an Araluen gold shipment at Nerrigundah, near Bodalla, the bushranging Clarke brothers were captured and eventually hanged.

Coincidentally, Francis Guy chose this moment to hastily leave Nelligen and resettle his family in Batemans Bay. Opportunistic, as always, Francis Guy’s fortunes now began to seriously take off. He quickly bought up much of the good land in Batemans Bay and built a general store, part of which still remains. Much of the brickwork was taken from the ballast of arriving ships.

He recommenced shipbuilding and produced many ships that transported people and cargo to and from ports all along the eastern coastline. The ships also went as far as California, where his eldest son Francis Jnr settled and married.

(Francis Jnr eventually returned to Batemans Bay and built a thriving timber mill and wharves on the shores of the Clyde River. The timber mill was sold to the Perry family in 1901.)

Francis Guy was one of Batemans Bay’s more colourful early characters. I like the idea that the early pioneering town of Batemans Bay was partly built on the edgy business career of such a man!

• Kim Odgers